


Hilal

by SevenOceansOfInk



Category: Original Work
Genre: Female Character of Color, Friendship, Gen, I Tried, I want to ship these characters but I feel a bit guilty?, Modern Era, Muslim Character, One Shot, Roommates, Short, Short One Shot, Supernatural Elements, This might be something longer later on, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-01
Updated: 2014-04-01
Packaged: 2018-01-17 19:51:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1400380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SevenOceansOfInk/pseuds/SevenOceansOfInk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucy's roommate, Dacia, is strict on the rules but seems to be a good friend. A secret lurks in their house, though, that might cost them both...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hilal

**Author's Note:**

> _Hilal_ translates to "crescent" in Arabic, and usually refers to the first lit elbow of the moon following the New Moon, indicating the start of a new month on the Islamic hijra calender.

Lucy's suitcase made a solid thunk as she set it down-- too hard, she told herself; maybe she should have picked up two smaller bags-- onto the hardwood floor. While it was well tended to, thin boards were old, and part of her worried that with enough force, the massive, overstuffed suitcase would simply snap through the floor to the first floor below.

It was nice, she assured herself; comfortable, and a bit lived-in. The walls were painted a cream color, with the wainscotting below a few shades warmer. The bed was neatly dressed, and a large, handsomly carved warddrobe that seemed like it was original to the old, Main Street Victorian made up for the tiny broomcloset sized storage behind one of the two doors in the room. No bathroom, but the one across the hall was close enough. The window on the far end looked out onto a park and the old brownstone houses on the other side.

"Now, I'm not going to expect you to keep the same diet as me..." Her roommate had been speaking the whole way up to her room, explaining the rules of the house. It was her family's, Dacia had told her, specifically one of her great-aunt's, and they left it to her on her passing. "Though if you do cook anything for the both of us, please keep the stuff on the list I gave you in mind, okay? It's important to me."

Lucy paused and turned around, facing back towards her roommate. Her long-sleeve cardigan covered part of a screenprint shirt for a local band, while flared, loose-legged pants lay over the tops of a pair of soft house shoes. A dark red scarf wrapped over her hair, spilling down and around her neck to lay in a circle around her collar. "Hey," she said, waving a hand in front of Lucy's eyes, "are you paying attention?"

"Huh?" Lucy blinked, and took a step back. Dacia had a striking face; angular and sharp, eyes set deep into her head. They were a deep, saturated red, too; something strange, Lucy thought, as the young woman showed no other sign of albinism, which would be the only explanation she could think of for the unusual color. Of course, she thought, she'd never really spoken with a black woman who had that condition, so how would she know whether Dacia was one or not? "Sorry. I was just taking in the room." Maybe, her mind continued, she was wearing colored contacts?

The woman sighed, and shook her head for a moment. "Okay, I know it's a lot to take in." Dacia stepped back into the hallway, and Lucy followed, leaving her bag in her new bedroom for the time being. "And I know I'm a bit picky about things. I have a routine, and I try to stick to it. It's good for me. Keeps me focused." She tapped two fingers against the center of her forehead. "If you take nothing away from the rules, take two things. First, is respect each other's space. I'm not going to pry into your life, and your things, and I ask that you do the same for me."

Lucy nodded, leaning back against the wall. She tugged down on her tank-top, feeling a little underdressed; how did Dacia keep cool under all of her layers of clothes, despite the August heat? "That sounds fair," she said. "What's the second?"

"If I tell you no one is allowed into the house," Dacia started. There was something grave to the look on her face. Despite the heat that soaked into the house from outside, Lucy felt a chill shake through her. "Then no one is allowed into the house. No questions."

Lucy bit her lip, trying to take in her roommate's order. "Is it... is it something I should know about? In case there's an emergency, or something?"

"Did you already forget the first rule?" Dacia leaned towards her; Lucy hadn't realized until then how much taller Dacia was. The muslimah was probably close to six feet, and had several inches over her. Lucy edged along the wall, stepping out of Dacia's direct gaze.

"Sorry. You're right; I won't pry." She looked back towards her room. "I should probably unpack. I think my suitcase is about ready to burst open."

"It looked it." Dacia's face softened again, much to Lucy's relief. "You had a bunch of boxes down in your car still, right? I'll help you bring them in later."

They followed a short hall back to the main stairway, and made their way down to the first floor. "There's a pot from my slow cooker in the fridge," Dacia continued. She stopped in front of a closet by the front door and grabbed the backpack inside. "I've got a morning class, so if you can start that pot heating while I'm out, we'll have some stew tonight for dinner. One less thing to worry about figuring out later, right?"

"Right." Lucy gave a quick nod, leaning over the post as she stood on the bottom-most steps. "Sounds easy enough."

Dacia smiled and opened the front door. "I'll be back around lunch time, then I'll help you move some of the bigger stuff in. Think you can stay out of trouble until then, alright?"

"I'll try," Lucy said with a laugh.

~

 It only took a day or two to finish settling in; when all way said and done, Lucy had a room filled with her books and movies, a handful of posters on the walls, and a windchime that fluttered by the now-open bedroom window. The space was already comfortable, she thought after putting everything in place. Now, it was also her home.

Her and Dacia got along well, and the sharpness with which her housemate had handed down her rules was quick to fade from mind. What took up that space instead were marathoned seasons of favorite shows, the smell of sharp spices and sweet sauces in the kitchen, and a crash-course in the local music scene around the university campus. 

It was two weeks later, over a fresh gnochi and lamb soup, that the rules returned to the forefront of Lucy's mind.

"Just so you know," Dacia said, stirring her food in slow circles with her spoon, "Tonight is one of those nights I was talking about. No one in the house."

Lucy looked up and blinked. There was something taunt and tense in the way her roommate sat at the kitchen island, the way she hunched over the bowl and drew her legs up as high as she could manage on her stool. "You're sure," Lucy said, her voice low, "that everything's okay?"

"I'm sure." Dacia's voice cracked like a whip, startling Lucy. They both jumped at the sound of her spoon clattering against her bowl. Dacia swallowed, running the edge of her teeth against her lips, while her eyes looked elsewhere. "I'm sure. It's just... it's just something I have to deal with. It comes and goes." She let out a long breath, scooping a spoonful of warm broth into her mouth. The heat seemed to soothe her, easing the hard frown on her face. "It's nothing to worry about. You might want to grab some earplugs from the store down the corner though. I don't want any noise to bother you tonight."

"Noise?"

Dacia shook her head. "I just don't want you to worry about what you think is going on. It's really okay."

 _Don't pry,_  Lucy thought to herself. That was the first rule of the house. She was careful to keep it; she only asked questions when it seemed that Dacia would readily answer them. They were just roommates, and there was no reason to dig in to any depth about what may or may not happen that night. At least, that was what she told herself. "Got it. Do you need me to pick up anything while I'm at the store, then?"

~

A howl echoed through the house, and shook Lucy from her sleep, short of breath. She pulled her blanket up over herself, while her eyes darted towards the open window. The trees outside were still for the most part, and so far as she knew, she'd never seen a stray wandering around in the park outside.

She felt around on the floor with her toes for her slippers, shuffling over to the window as soon as they were on her feet. The view outside confirmed the same as what she was confident of from the comfort of her bed: there was the occasional sound of crickets and the buzz that followed the lightning bugs that were everywhere this time of year, the sound of a car cutting through a puddle from that afternoon's rain, but no dogs. Nothing that could make a sound like what she heard.

Lucy pushed the window back down into its bottom sill, and stood quietly in front of it. Somewhere-- she couldn't tell from where-- she could hear scratching, and the rattle of something metalic as it dragged over a floor.

She swallowed, though her mouth was dry, and tried to think. It was an old house, but it wasn't haunted. Dacia would have mentioned it, she was sure of it. It would be too good a story to not share. Unless it was something private, she reminded herself. The house had belonged to family, and if something had happened between relatives of hers, generations back... Lucy shook her head, raking her hands through tangled heaps of brown hair. No, she told herself. She was a grown adult, and she was not about to let her imagination taunt her like she was some little girl frightened by a monster under the bed.

She searched the room, grabbing a spray can of mace from her purse before opening her bedroom door. The scratching was only louder in the hallway, and the low moan of a muted howl echoed from one end of the house to the other. Her legs froze in place for a second; for a moment, she remembered her home in the country, and how the sounds of animals in the woods would frighten her until her parents sat up and identified each one with her.

The howl came again, longer and more drawn out. It sounded like a dog, she thought to herself, but wrong. The sound was bigger, with an undercurrent in it beneath the sound that spilled into the still night air that she couldn't place.

Whatever it was, was down the hall, near Dacia's room. She took slow steps, her hand ready on the trigger for her mace.

The scratching and rattling intensified as she stepped closer; each creak of the floorboards beneath her made Lucy tense. Why did she move into such an old house? She shook her head; she had more pressing concerns for the moment.

She stopped in front of Dacia's bedroom, and laid an ear against the door. The noise inside sounded frantic; something slapped, again and again, against the floor, before raking something sharp over its surface. Whatever was inside sounded pained, the noise a deep, mournful rumble and growl that tightened around Lucy's heart. "Dacia?" she called out, knocking quick at the door. Her voice shook, throat tightening until she could hardly breathe.

The noise stopped for a moment. Then, in the space of a heartbeat, she heard the metal snap hard against itself, smacking against the floor, while the growling intensified until it filled her head. Lucy whimpered, couching down, wrapping her arms over her ears. Whatever was behind the door, whatever was responsible for the noise, was monstrous, the stuff of every nightmare she'd ever had. She bit down hard enough, until she felt the heat of her blood well up over her lip, the metal taste in her mouth shaking her back to sense.

Dacia was in there with whatever she was hearing. She was probably just as afraid, and she needed help. Lucy forced her legs back under her, pushing her back up the door, while her empty hand gripped the doorknob tight.

"I'm coming in," she said between gasps for breath, "on the count of three. One." She made sure her finger was poised over the Mace's trigger. "Two..."

With the door at her back, she turned the knob and pushed into the room, swinging her weapon outward as she turned to face the opposite corner.

There, in the opposite corner of the room, crouched and half-buried under multiple length of silver chain, sat a massive, feral wolf, much larger than any natural canine. Lucy's heart pounded like a drum in her chest, her hands shaking as she kept her canned pepper spray pointed towards the creature.

Angry, penetrating red eyes looked out across the room from the shadows, the monster's lips drawing back to bare sharpened, wet fangs. A growl rumbled from its throat, while the chains binding it dragged over the floor as it leaned closer towards her.

There was no sign of Dacia anywhere; her clothes lay in a pile by the bedside, discarded casually. Except for the bright red scarf, she realized, turning back to the monster in the corner. That, she realized, was wrapped around the wolf's neck, tied like a kerchief that draped over its back and shoulders, until it hung beneath the scruff of fur at its neck.

"Oh," Lucy said, letting her arms drop to her sides. "Oh."

~

Things were much quieter the next morning. Everything was as it always was; Dacia was up before Lucy, standing in front of the microwave as she cradled a steaming cup of coffee in her hands, waiting for the ping that indicated that her instant oatmeal was ready to eat. She looked tired still, eyes half open, though her nightgown looked fresh and unwrinkled from sleep. Her scarf, on the other hand, was a loosely wrapped heap; parts of the cap underneath that held Dacia's hair in place, a simple, white linin piece, showed between bands of the red fabric.

Lucy said nothing at first, moving without a word through the kitchen as she made herself a bowl of cereal and a glass of juice. Dacia was seated at the kitchen island by then, hunched over her bowl. Her elbow sat anchored on the table top, head resting heavy against the palm of her hand.

Play it cool, Lucy told herself as she sipped on her juice. She sat down at the table across from Dacia, trying not to make eye contact with her roommate. "Everything... okay?" she said.

Dacia lifted her head slowly, letting her hand fall with a thump onto the table. "Don't fool around," she said, and snarled. "You were in my room last night. You  _saw._ "

Lucy swallowed the lump in her throat. So much for playing cool. "I was worried about you. I thought something had gotten into you room..."

"I told you, I would be fine!"

Lucy jumped, hairs on her neck standing as Dacia's stool clattered and rolled across the kitchen floor. The young woman was quick onto her feet, shoulders hunching as she dropped her palms down onto the table. Her fingers looked as though they could dig into the butcher block, Lucy thought, feeling cold sweat on her forehead. "You didn't need to see that." Dacia's voice was low, severe, something in it rumbling like thunder on the horizon. "You weren't supposed to see any of that."

"I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!"

She was cowering, Lucy realized; she'd tried to hide behind the island as Dacia's voice lashed out at her. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice little more than a breath rushing out of her mouth. "I'm sorry. You said not to pry, but I was scared."

Slowly, the tension melted from Dacia's arms; she stepped back, her eyes closing as she breathed in steady breaths. "You have to understand," she said, curling and uncurling her hands in and out of fists at her sides, "that this is something you can't really share easily with potential roommates. It's why I have to keep it a secret."

Lucy nodded, and sat back up. "Yeah... Damnit, I want to make a joke here. This feels too tense; I can't handle this."

"If you want to leave," Dacia said, nodding towards the front door, "I won't hold it against you. I saw the look on your face last night, Lucy. You looked horrified."

"How much do you remember?"

Dacia shook her head. "Bits and pieces. Flashes of things. Transforming from human to wolf, and back again, throws a lot of things in my head around."

Lucy slid off of her stool, careful not to drag the wooden legs across the floor. She took cautious steps around the table, watching Dacia's eyes follow her, that red, piercing gaze as striking as it was when they first met, as it was the night before.

She was not deterred, though. She wasn't then, and wouldn't be now. She stood next to Dacia, waiting for the young woman to turn and face her. "Do you remember," she said, forcing herself to look into her roommate's eyes, "what I did next?"

"I don't. I'm sorry." Dacia sighed, and looked away. "I don't remember clearly enough."

"I did this."

Lucy took one last step, and wrapped her arms around Dacia; one of her roommate's knees buckled, bending, and she laid her head against Lucy's shoulder. Lucy rested a hand against the back of Dacia's head, letting her fingers press gently down on the hair covered by her scarf. Warm tears spilled against her neck, Lucy realized; she closed her eyes, and simply cradled her roommate in her arms. "I'll help you," she said, whispering into Dacia's ear. "You don't have to carry this alone."

They stood there, quiet, woman and werewolf, friend and friend, until long after Dacia's coffee had gone cold.


End file.
